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Police seek end to restrictions on military surplus

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/19/2016 08:53:33 AM EST

Several local police chiefs hope President-elect Donald Trump will keep his campaign promise to rescind restrictions on a program that provides police with surplus military equipment, even though they have no interest in the big-ticket items affected.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2015 that placed a number of restrictions on the 1033 Program in response to concerns, following the protests in Ferguson, Mo., that police were overly militarized.

Obama banned the program from providing police with tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft, firearms of .50 caliber and higher, grenade launchers, bayonets and camouflage uniforms, and imposed a variety of new restrictions on other items in the program.

Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest Martineau

During the campaign, Trump pledged to rescind that executive order, and police nationwide are now waiting to see if he'll keep that promise.

Local police chiefs expressed support for rescinding the order, but also say they have no interest in obtaining tracked armored vehicles, aircraft or similar items.

"I don't want to be an occupying army in the city of Fitchburg," Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest Martineau said. "I want to be part of the community."

Leominster Police Chief Michael Goldman said the armored vehicles and other militaristic equipment that the media has focused on are just a small part of what is actually available.

Goldman is hoping to obtain storage pods via the program to store some of the department's motorcycles.

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He's also keeping an eye out for a Humvee to use as a mobile command center that can reach off-road areas, or to carry the department's graffiti-removal machine.

Goldman said a Vietnam-era ambulance is currently used to carry the machine, and there's no money in his budget to replace that vehicle otherwise.

"Budgets are razor-thin, and to get that type of equipment, we usually need a grant or a donation," Goldman said. "We're getting baseline, practical equipment that most police departments can't afford in their budgets."

Goldman thinks much of the attention the program has received has been misleading.

"There might be larger cities getting larger vehicles for entries, but that's the exception and not the rule," Goldman said.

And data regarding the program backs up what Goldman says.

The Defense Logistics Agency, which administers the program, says on its website that more than $6 billion worth of equipment has been transferred to law-enforcement agencies since the program's inception.

"Requisitions cover the gamut of items used by America's military -- clothing and officer supplies, tools and rescue equipment, vehicles, rifles and other small arms," the agency's website says.

Tyngsboro Police Chief Rich Howe

"Of all the excess equipment provided through the program, only 5 percent are weapons and less than 1 percent are tactical vehicles."

Tyngsboro Police Chief Rich Howe said his department obtained semiautomatic rifles via the program that are now deployed with officers in case they have to respond to a critical incident, such as a school shooting.

"These are the same rifles that people can purchase in this state with a firearms license," Howe said. "I expect the officers in my police department to be at least equally armed as the citizens they're sworn to protect."

Howe said those rifles are usually kept secured inside police cruisers so that officers have access to them if needed, but that officers do not carry the rifles on them during routine calls.

"If someone in the community is concerned or if they think it's too much, I'd love for them to come in and talk to me so I can articulate why I'm doing what I'm doing," he said.

Chelmsford Chief James Spinney said police do need such specialized equipment to respond to some emergencies, but he doesn't think each individual town needs to have it on hand.

"State and local law enforcement are on the front lines and are first on scene to address any and all situations," Spinney said. "Access to specialized equipment is critical if law enforcement is to have the necessary tools for a safe and effective response."

But Spinney also noted that Chelmsford is one of more than 50 communities that make up the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, and said he thinks it makes more fiscal sense to have consortiums like NEMLEC obtain such equipment.

Neil Ouellette, interim chief in Dracut, said he doesn't see a problem with the program's distribution of items like office and storage equipment, but that he wouldn't be inclined to obtain military weaponry.

Ouellette said he thinks the best way to regulate police use of such equipment is to obtain it via the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Martineau said his Fitchburg has ballistic vests and patrol rifles, so he isn't aware of any major items that his officers currently need from the program.

Nevertheless, he said he wants to have the option to pick up items for free when they're needed because of shrinking municipal budgets.

"All our budgets are under scrutiny and shrinking," Martineau said. "It would be nice to have that option to go to the federal government."

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